New York gallery Friedman Benda is hosting the first solo exhibition of work by Lebanese designer Najla El Zein, which includes sculptural furniture influenced by pregnancy and seduction.
Three sets of work based on the Beirut-based designer's personal experiences make up the Transition exhibition, which recently opened at the gallery in Chelsea.

The first series she created is the Distortion benches, which Friedman Benda presented at The Salon Art + Design 2017 fair in New York.
Each of the four minimal furniture pieces has a mound protruding from its flat surface, supported by thick cylindrical legs. The smooth rounded forms are various sizes, and reference how the body changes during pregnancy.
On each bench, the bump is located in a different position ? sometimes creating an obstacle between sitters, and in one instance shifting the visual weight to one side.
"Benches are usually objects that are made for more than one person, so I also played with the idea of separation between different people," El Zein said. "The distortion creates that separation."
The designer chose to make the benches from fine white concrete, to create a cold yet smooth finish. The absence of colour is intended to draw focus to the shapes, "so they act more like silhouettes".
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